In wind turbines the operating temperatures of several different components need to be monitored. For each such component there may be a maximum allowable operating temperature. Generally exceeding this maximum allowable operating temperature of a component may damage or wear down the component in question which may cause turbine downtime for maintenance or a shortened life expectancy of the wind turbine. Thus, maintaining all operating temperatures of the various critical components of the wind turbine within their respective allowable ranges is a prerequisite for achieving a maximum profitability of the wind turbine.
Usually wind turbines are constructed such that the wind turbine is shut down if one component exceeds its maximum allowable operating temperature. This control strategy is simple and effective, however, leads to some turbine downtime. This turbine downtime again reduces overall power production and thus profitability of the wind turbine.
Other control strategies include providing a dedicated control algorithm for one or more components of the wind turbine that may be controlled with respect to the power dissipated in the component. However, these algorithms have to be tailored for each specific such component and may not be used for other components which greatly increases implementation complexity. In addition there may be some components of the wind turbine that cannot be controlled individually in accordance with their operating temperature.